Speaker 1: I don't want to be an Americans got sloan on
Speaker 1: this Friday morning on seven hundred w old.
Speaker 2: But it is the season.
Speaker 1: I'm about ready. I don't have to put you. And
Speaker 1: maybe it's just all the angst and drahmenagut in life.
Speaker 1: Love the holidays because you can just unplug. So if
Speaker 1: part of the celebration for you is planning on going
Speaker 1: downtown for the holidays, be it the tree lighting or
Speaker 1: to see the elves, or maybe to skate, There's been
Speaker 1: a lot of movement, a lot of additions and big
Speaker 1: changes for the holidays, especially in the Fountain District this year.
Speaker 1: On that from three CDC is Christie smadd Christy, good morning.
Speaker 2: How are you? Good morning? How are you? I'm fine,
Speaker 2: I'm fine. I'm ready for some holiday action. I don't know.
Speaker 1: Generally, when I see the ads for Christmas right around
Speaker 1: the fourth of July, I'm like, it's a little early,
Speaker 1: but this year, bring it on.
Speaker 2: I'm ready. I'm here for it.
Speaker 3: I totally agree. And I feel like with the snow
Speaker 3: flurry on Monday even more right.
Speaker 2: Right, I'm ready.
Speaker 1: I'm in the spirit. So the thing is, typically people
Speaker 1: go downtown and you have your habits. You know, maybe
Speaker 1: you go see the trains at the Museum Center, go
Speaker 1: see the Shiloh elves, whatever it is. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of moving parts right now. So if you show up
Speaker 1: and go, hey, what happened to fill in the blank,
Speaker 1: it may not be where you thought it was. The
Speaker 1: beginning is first of all, before we get into the changes,
Speaker 1: and these are some big ones here. What was the
Speaker 1: decision to kind of reimagine this whole thing?
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, so the ice drink has been awesome at
Speaker 3: Fountain Square for you know, the last twenty years or so,
Speaker 3: but we kept you know, building onto it and trying
Speaker 3: to make the patron experience better. But we ran out
Speaker 3: of room. We were kind of landlocked at Mountain Square.
Speaker 3: And so when the renovation of the Convention Center came
Speaker 3: on and we were looking at Elm Street plaza right outside,
Speaker 3: it only made sense to make that area, you know,
Speaker 3: bring in the ice rink. And so we were able
Speaker 3: to some scratch kind of imagine where the ice drink
Speaker 3: would go, what is the patron experience, and we were
Speaker 3: able to expand and so as really in the Mountain
Speaker 3: district and how we you know, expand the winter festivities
Speaker 3: in downtown, within this district, it just made sense where
Speaker 3: we could do something new on Fountains Square, we could
Speaker 3: put a new, brand new ice drink at Elm Street
Speaker 3: Plaza and really think of it in that way.
Speaker 2: So will a rink be bigger or is it the
Speaker 2: same rink? It is bigger.
Speaker 3: It's a brand new ice rink. It's about a thousand
Speaker 3: square feed bigger.
Speaker 1: Nice and I like I used, I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: not that far. It's just like a couple of blocks.
Speaker 1: So it spreads people a lot too that you can
Speaker 1: go to different and see different things along the way
Speaker 1: like and that's good for business too.
Speaker 3: It's awesome. So it's a it's only a block and
Speaker 3: a half, so you you're more than welcome to still
Speaker 3: park at Soutain Square. Come up and we're debuting the
Speaker 3: Winter House this Saturday, which is a sixty five by
Speaker 3: sixty five tenth with a bar. It's got normal operating
Speaker 3: hours Monday through Sunday eleven to eight, and we'll have
Speaker 3: programming just like we do during the summer. And the
Speaker 3: thoughtfit's behind that was, you know, if you're not a
Speaker 3: skater and it's cold, you're probably not finding yourself a
Speaker 3: Fountain Square in the winter months, and so we wanted
Speaker 3: to kind of think of something where during the summer
Speaker 3: everyone uses it for lunch breaks, for meetings, you know,
Speaker 3: to see programming, and so really we were thinking how
Speaker 3: to carry that on during the winter, and so this
Speaker 3: is that it's a large warming tent where you can
Speaker 3: still enjoy programming, congregate with friends, you know, take meetings
Speaker 3: in there, you your lunch, et cetera. And so that
Speaker 3: being on Soutain Square and new this year. Back prior
Speaker 3: to the renovation, like in the eighties and earlier than that,
Speaker 3: the city used to put lights on the fountain, so
Speaker 3: when they turn the water off, they would replace it
Speaker 3: with lights to you know, make it look like the
Speaker 3: fountain was still flowing with water. And in the past
Speaker 3: years that went a way, and so we're bringing it
Speaker 3: back this year with animated lights. So it'll be beautiful
Speaker 3: something to compliment. While you're in the tent just enjoying
Speaker 3: a cocktail, you can watch the fountain glow. And so
Speaker 3: that will be at Fountain Square.
Speaker 1: Big big of how big is Let's let's do the
Speaker 1: Winterhouse ten. How big a ten is it?
Speaker 3: It's a sixty five by sixty five, so it'll fit
Speaker 3: about two hundred three hundred people.
Speaker 1: And that sounds cool because you can sit in there
Speaker 1: and be warm and have a cocktail and now look
Speaker 1: at to watch the tree, watch people go.
Speaker 3: By, exactly. I feel like, for yeah, you know, if
Speaker 3: you weren't ice skating, you weren't on the Fountain Square
Speaker 3: in the winter months, and so this hopefully will curve that.
Speaker 3: But then to your point, so the block and a
Speaker 3: half to Elm Street Plaza, while you're walking on Fifth,
Speaker 3: the Chilto Elves are going in some storefronts at the
Speaker 3: Crew Tower and so those are the beloved Elves that's everyone.
Speaker 3: You know, they've been spliced apart over the years, I
Speaker 3: think since they're originally at Chilto. But we've got a
Speaker 3: few scenes that you can check out on Fifth. And
Speaker 3: then to your point, not to mention all of the
Speaker 3: new businesses, the businesses that have been opened, but there's
Speaker 3: a lot of new businesses opening on Fifth Street, and
Speaker 3: so prim is a new bar that just opens in
Speaker 3: the Soundry. We've got Salazar that used to be an
Speaker 3: OTR relocated down to the old Sax building and that's
Speaker 3: opening next week. There's another entertainment concept called Flight Club
Speaker 3: that is going right next door and it's a dark
Speaker 3: bar and that will be on the other edge of
Speaker 3: the street. And then at that point you'll be right
Speaker 3: at Elm Street pos. But in between we still have
Speaker 3: Jeff Ruby's Davidson, We've got Vintage on the race met
Speaker 3: Mary Gold. It's just gonna be this amazing district.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna guess Christie that moving the shallow Elves to
Speaker 1: to in Main Street there at Kurru Tower, that that
Speaker 1: to me, that that's a that's a winner.
Speaker 3: It is it is well talk about the history and
Speaker 3: the old memories. I mean, we're bringing him back closer
Speaker 3: to where they were, you know. And so it's and
Speaker 3: it's just putting all of these festivities in one space
Speaker 3: and so in one spot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the little kids like it to you're older,
Speaker 1: you see goes see the Shillowlson.
Speaker 2: But those things are lame. They saw that's not Ai.
Speaker 2: That's it's not And then when.
Speaker 1: When you get to be a parent, you bring your
Speaker 1: kids here because you have fond memories of of the thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's the way. It's awesome.
Speaker 3: This is what we used to do. This is what
Speaker 3: things used to look like, you know, I'm a little
Speaker 3: I can a little creepy. They're great to see. I
Speaker 3: love them. I go every year.
Speaker 1: But well there, but if you look at that stuff
Speaker 1: from I don't know, a couple of generations ago, like
Speaker 1: Halloween masks and Santa Clauses are super creepy. Back then
Speaker 1: if you look at some of those black and whites
Speaker 1: from like the thirties or forties, like, that's scary.
Speaker 3: Af You're right, You're right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's more like Crampis than it is Santa Claus.
Speaker 1: Christy Samad, she is the EVP of Civic and Commercial
Speaker 1: Space Activation for three CDC and totally have blown up
Speaker 1: how the holidays are gonna look downtown this year, starting
Speaker 1: in the in the Fountain district. So if you're looking
Speaker 1: for the rank, it has moved. That is gonna be
Speaker 1: Elm Street, so right adjacent to the new Duke Energy
Speaker 1: Convention Center, and the ranks bigger and better. Specifically, when
Speaker 1: you when you look at the new rank, you said,
Speaker 1: it's a new new surface. What upgrades will you notice?
Speaker 3: So it's a larger and we will have eggloos, we'll
Speaker 3: have pergolas that have fire pits that you can rent
Speaker 3: individually if you can have you know, if your family's
Speaker 3: coming down, you can secure a private area to hang
Speaker 3: out and have all of your stuff. There's a pavilion
Speaker 3: that's actually going to be there year round, but it
Speaker 3: will be open with concessions, you know, have chocolate, nack drink.
Speaker 3: And so I think that downtown is needed. I mean
Speaker 3: Elm Street Plaza in general. Right, it's this new two
Speaker 3: and a half acre civic space. We're putting two hundred
Speaker 3: and some odd trees in this space, so it's kind
Speaker 3: of breaking in this concrete jungle and giving it new life.
Speaker 3: And so the ice drink being right in the middle
Speaker 3: debuting the space is it's awesome because it's going to
Speaker 3: bring a ton of people to come down to see
Speaker 3: the newly renovated convention center that will be you know,
Speaker 3: that's opening the first events January sixties for Redsvest. The
Speaker 3: mural that they did for Blink to Trists and Eaton
Speaker 3: mural on the side building of eighty four to fifty
Speaker 3: one is the backdrop of the ice drink and it
Speaker 3: just really you know, it showcases everything that he has.
Speaker 2: It's great, Yeah, it is cool. When does the rink
Speaker 2: open November twenty.
Speaker 3: So next Friday, we're doing the ribbon cutting of the
Speaker 3: Elm Street Plaza. We're having the first inaut yural skates
Speaker 3: on the rink and then it'll be free ice skating
Speaker 3: all day long.
Speaker 1: All right, who's going to be first you do the
Speaker 1: ribbon cutting, who's going to do the ceremony? Falling on
Speaker 1: their ass?
Speaker 3: So all we've got some really great construction guys that
Speaker 3: have been on the project all the past eighteen months
Speaker 3: and they're gonna they're going to debut ice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, wear your bucket, boys, It'll be all right, all right.
Speaker 1: So the new center piece of Found Square though, is
Speaker 1: the Winterhouse. We talked about that there's daily programming there.
Speaker 1: Are you get a music in it too or around there,
Speaker 1: so when the when the rinks go on, you put
Speaker 1: the tent there instead.
Speaker 3: I'm guessing right, yeah exactly. And there's a stage within
Speaker 3: the tent and so we will have programming basically seven
Speaker 3: nights a week. You can find we're doing a collaboration
Speaker 3: with CCM to have some buzz performers. We're gonna we
Speaker 3: debuted at Washington Park this past summer a ukre night
Speaker 3: where you can just come bring partners or just meet partners.
Speaker 3: We're gonna have yukre nights there. We're gonna have drag bingo,
Speaker 3: We'll have piano nights on Fridays, so it will have
Speaker 3: Vinyl nights on Thursdays where you can come and fish records.
Speaker 3: We've got a lot going on.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah.
Speaker 1: And the idea then also during the day though, is
Speaker 1: to get a lot of the workers downtown to come
Speaker 1: and maybe have lunch there.
Speaker 3: Yeah. It's really you know at that point that third space,
Speaker 3: so you can come and just pull up your laptop
Speaker 3: and it's more.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love that and and you know you engage more people.
Speaker 1: That's that's awesome. And we need that downtown for sure.
Speaker 1: Uh And even with the rink moving that the Fountain
Speaker 1: Square is the fix. You know this, let's face that,
Speaker 1: we're gonna put the Christmas tree there too and have
Speaker 1: the tree lighting and sandals zip line down so the
Speaker 1: tree stays.
Speaker 2: Talk about the fountain lights.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so thanks to the TVG came in big time
Speaker 3: and they came to support putting the light on the fountain.
Speaker 3: Like I mentioned, there's going to be a five minute
Speaker 3: animated show of these lights every fifteen minutes and so
Speaker 3: it'll look like, you know, when you're just walking by
Speaker 3: there's nothing, it'll look like just a nice, pretty white
Speaker 3: and then every fifteen minutes it'll pop with different designs
Speaker 3: of players and just really add to the middle.
Speaker 2: Of the square almost like blank.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, exactly. I have a two and a four
Speaker 3: year old. We were down, you know, getting everything ready
Speaker 3: last night, and they were just entranced by this fountain.
Speaker 3: They were steering at it, like what's going on?
Speaker 2: It was, Yeah, that is really cool. I understand.
Speaker 1: Also, you're gonna have there's gonna be more light and
Speaker 1: a long fi history.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So again just to deck the halls, we are making
Speaker 3: sure again and as a clear plaque path. If you're
Speaker 3: not incredibly familiar with downtown and you're like you forget that,
Speaker 3: it's that Elmstreet prep clasa. You park at Fountain Square,
Speaker 3: you're gonna come up, You're going to see all these
Speaker 3: festivities and then you'll see like a lit plat path
Speaker 3: that will take it, you know, just a block and
Speaker 3: a half free plaza with the tree lights and just
Speaker 3: the more holidays.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so cool because it like lights the path
Speaker 1: three to go though, which is you don't you don't
Speaker 1: love the festive. It's like at the zoo with the
Speaker 1: big tunnel of lights you walk through.
Speaker 3: Exactly well and not the thing. We wanted to make
Speaker 3: sure that. Yes, as the rink is physically moving, but
Speaker 3: we're really just expanding the experience. So rather than it
Speaker 3: just being in one spot, you just have to just
Speaker 3: like the zoo, you walk a little farther to the
Speaker 3: next experience.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know, I picture in my head and like,
Speaker 1: just like Clark Griswold is, it's gorgeous, it's beautiful.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And it makes sense too, because we try to cram
Speaker 1: everything a Fountain Square. You get the tree, you get
Speaker 1: the lighting, you got stages in concerts, you get the
Speaker 1: ice rink. There's no more room to go. So expanding
Speaker 1: it and moving it a block and a half is
Speaker 1: I think it's brilliant.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And then but that's a good point. A lot
Speaker 3: of people are asking the do holiday tree will stay
Speaker 3: on Fountain Square and so that's still on the corner
Speaker 3: of Fifth to Vine, and so when we do to
Speaker 3: flight up the square, we will still we'll have that
Speaker 3: celebration on Fountain Square, but obviously a lot of festivities
Speaker 3: at the rink and again, we're just it's just how
Speaker 3: you make your way through either space. If you want
Speaker 3: to see the tree lighting physically onto Fountain Square, you
Speaker 3: can do that. But we also have an LED board
Speaker 3: at Elmstreet Plaza and we'll be simulcasting it. So we're
Speaker 3: going to use the LED boards at Fountain Square and
Speaker 3: Elm Street pop Plaza as a little bit of a portal.
Speaker 3: So you know, if you're ice skating and there's something
Speaker 3: happening at the Square, we'll pop in to show you
Speaker 3: what's happening. So you can be at two places at.
Speaker 1: One Yeah, that's pretty cool. What about the holiday market
Speaker 1: or Chris Kentlemark, so that.
Speaker 3: There is going to be Chris Kindle Market down at
Speaker 3: the banks that's more line Lawn, but on light of
Speaker 3: the Square. We will have vendors that are on Elm
Speaker 3: Street Plaza and just again part of that experience. But
Speaker 3: the cool thing about Winter House we wanted to make
Speaker 3: sure that there is another element when you need to
Speaker 3: get a gift quickly. We have kind of like an
Speaker 3: iHeart Cincinnati store in the Winterhouse, and so you guests
Speaker 3: that are central or they're around Cincinnati, but it'll be
Speaker 3: a great place for one stop shop.
Speaker 2: Guess yeah, very very cool.
Speaker 1: Finally, Christy Samad, the concern for a lot of people
Speaker 1: listening you're gonna go downtown is wait a minute, now,
Speaker 1: we've had a rash of shootings all summer long, We've
Speaker 1: had more violence. It's a problem for sure. Is it
Speaker 1: meaning that Cincinnati's a no go? I don't think so.
Speaker 1: I have no problem going down on a an evening
Speaker 1: and with my family, even little ones for that matter,
Speaker 1: and go and enjoy the holidays and the Fountain District
Speaker 1: and the skating ring. But there are people are here
Speaker 1: listening going. Ain't no way. You can't guarantee someone's safety.
Speaker 1: But how does that fit into this what we're talking
Speaker 1: about here? Because you know, we just open a brand
Speaker 1: new convention center. Of the hotels going in, we want
Speaker 1: people downtown, and yet there's this fear of random violence.
Speaker 3: You know, I think in all downtowns, you know, across America, right,
Speaker 3: I mean there's always it's an urban area. I don't
Speaker 3: think I lived down here of a two and a
Speaker 3: four year old. I bring them downtown all the time.
Speaker 3: We live right by simily Market, and I think that
Speaker 3: you know, the presence of more people, the more activity
Speaker 3: only helps that of the feeling of safety. I think
Speaker 3: that there's always going to be unfortunate instant incidences, but
Speaker 3: you know, I don't think that downtown feels unsafe by
Speaker 3: any means. And adding all of this activity again as
Speaker 3: the vibrans, the as the like, as the excitement, and
Speaker 3: so I think, you know, that's what we need to
Speaker 3: lean into. Is the more people that come downtown, the
Speaker 3: safer it is.
Speaker 1: I'm sure it was a concern for you guys too,
Speaker 1: and what did the cityus wage those fears?
Speaker 2: To some degree? Have we added more security for this?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, we are working closely with the police
Speaker 3: and the city, and there will be more visibility for sure.
Speaker 3: But again I think that we're thinking like, because there's
Speaker 3: more activity, there will be more police presence everywhere. But
Speaker 3: we want to, you know, compliment that with all the
Speaker 3: different activities that we're putting on.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, as a family, you feel safe down there, and
Speaker 1: that's that that's court. I mean, I would and it
Speaker 1: wouldn't prevent me from going down there for sure. I mean,
Speaker 1: sadly it happens and it needs to be addressed, but
Speaker 1: to me, it's not a deal breaker. I want to
Speaker 1: see the school stuff. I want to see the elves
Speaker 1: and the new rank and all that stuff as well,
Speaker 1: and the Christmas tree, because I love the holidays and
Speaker 1: a lot of people do. So get on and down
Speaker 1: and it kicks up. Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker 3: Sorry. One other thing. We also have, you know, downtown
Speaker 3: operations teams, the ambassadors. We have increased those as well,
Speaker 3: so you know it's clean and safe for the city.
Speaker 3: But also they are a wealth of knowledge for if
Speaker 3: you're downtown and you don't exactly know exactly where you're going,
Speaker 3: you can always stop them. And so again it's just
Speaker 3: that more presence on the sidewalk.
Speaker 2: All right, Christy. What starts tomorrow. What goes on on.
Speaker 3: Tomorrow is the grand opening of Winterhouse, and the de
Speaker 3: Caliday Tree comes early in the morning on Fountain Square,
Speaker 3: so you can come see that sucker, come in off
Speaker 3: the highway and start getting installed. I like to say
Speaker 3: that this is a process. This isn't immediately. The tree
Speaker 3: does not immediately look pretty right after it. So it
Speaker 3: may have times where it looks a little sparse, guys,
Speaker 3: but it will.
Speaker 2: Look beautiful, that's all right.
Speaker 3: So that that's coming to this square early in the morning,
Speaker 3: we've got a tree trimming party that coincides with that,
Speaker 3: so you can go into the Winter House have some
Speaker 3: holiday fun. We'll have some entertainment in there, and then
Speaker 3: from six to ten we've got the visit in two's
Speaker 3: grand opening of the Winter House, all right.
Speaker 1: And it goes through the holidays as well. So Christy
Speaker 1: Samad with the three c DC, I love the idea.
Speaker 1: I think it's a great reimagination, reimagining of this this
Speaker 1: thing because it needed it. It was the rink was small,
Speaker 1: as little tired, little compact. Spreading it out I think
Speaker 1: is brilliant. Hopefully folks will get downtown and enjoy this
Speaker 1: uh as part of the holiday FESTIALI is Christy all
Speaker 1: the best? Thanks again, Thank you, Take care. Christy Samad
Speaker 1: three c DC on the Scott's Loan Show. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: sure that people going I know, way I'm going to,
Speaker 1: I don't know. It doesn't really bother me, especially that area.
Speaker 1: You know, random violence happens on the roadway, so I'm
Speaker 1: that's second to hopefully not scare too many people away anyway,
Speaker 1: away from trying to keep downtime going, We'll get a
Speaker 1: time out of news on the way slowly seven hundred Wi.
Speaker 3: The